Kerala Man from UAE is the First Detected MPox Case in India
The patient had come home from the Arabian Gulf.
Days after the outbreak of the Nipah Virus in Kerala, the first reported case of Mpox in the southern Indian state has come to light. And how’s this for a coincidence: the infectious invasion has occurred in the same district where Nipah is running rampant- Malappuram. According to Kerala’s Health Minister Veena George, the MPox patient is a 38-year-old man who recently returned to his home from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Mrs. George confirmed that the infected gentleman was admitted to a local hospital on showing symptoms of the disease. These tell-tale signs included fatigue, fever, muscle ache, swollen lymph nodes and blisters and crusts on his skin. The Minister added that the patient is receiving treatment while remaining in isolation at the medical institution. However, one is not certain yet whether those he came into contact with are being tested for the virus.
According to medical personnel, the time between exposure to the virus and the onset of the ailment is about 10 days. This means that the Kerala resident suffering from MPox must have been in contact with other people for that duration. Specialists say that human-to-human transmission happens with skin or bodily fluid contact, including by sex.
But surprisingly, this patient had not returned from Africa where the main proliferation of the scourge has occurred. In fact, since January 2023, there have been around 2,700 suspected cases of Mpox and over 1,100 deaths from the disease in Africa. The nation in the continent most affected is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with a dozen other countries reporting mounting cases. Has Mpox, also known as “Monkey Pox”, officially announced its arrival into Asia? Let’s hope the Kerala authorities can stamp out the Virus before it launches an epidemic. After all, officials and medicos have their hands full with containing Nipah as it is.
